Contents
Farage finally confirms: A Reform UK government would slash spending on disability benefits. 3
Racist responses to disability hate crime campaign signal ‘deeply worrying’ trend. 8
Fresh fears over ticket office closures, after concerns raised in Newcastle and London. 12
Disabled workers win TUC support for fight against Labour’s cuts to benefits. 16
Labour’s housing policies will have ‘quite negligible’ impact on accessibility, MPs are told. 18
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week. 19
Ministerial reshuffle raises fear of hardline DWP approach, and education and transport policy delays
A government reshuffle has raised concerns over a possible new hardline approach from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) ministers, and further delays to Labour action on accessible housing and education.
The major reshuffle saw Liz Kendall sacked and replaced by Pat MacFadden, while housing secretary and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner – who resigned last week over her property dealings – has been replaced by Steve Reed.
Among those raising concerns at McFadden’s appointment was the Benefits and Work website, which highlighted his support for the government’s attempted cuts to disability benefits, including personal independence payment (PIP).
Benefits and Work described him as an “experienced and ruthless political operator likely to strike fear into the hearts of MPs intent on challenging the government’s welfare plans”.
Concerns were raised further when The i Paper reported that McFadden had been charged by the prime minister “with bringing down Britain’s welfare bill and ensuring the system helps the economy by allowing people who are not currently in work to get a job”.
Sir Stephen Timms, who is heading a review into PIP, remains minister for social security and disability.
There are also concerns over the impact of the reshuffle on other government departments.
The Department for Education (DfE) had been expected to publish a schools white paper in the autumn, which is set to include reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system.
But although Bridget Phillipson remains in post as education secretary – and is now campaigning to be Labour’s new deputy leader – schools standards minister Catherine McKinnell, who was responsible for SEND reform, has been sacked.
Georgia Gould, former leader of Camden council, has joined DfE as a minister of state, although it has not yet been confirmed if she will now take on responsibility for SEND.
Mikey Erhardt, policy lead for Disability Rights UK, said the reshuffle “risks putting disabled people even further back in the queue”.
He said: “Accessible housing and SEND reform are urgent priorities, yet every change of minister brings more delay.
“For disabled people and their families, delay is not neutral — it means children waiting longer for support, and adults continuing to live in homes that do not meet their needs.
“Disabled people want stability and action.
“Instead of recycling ministers, government must focus on delivering reforms that make a real difference: secure incomes, accessible homes, and education that meets every child’s needs.
“We are concerned that once again the focus is on cuts and numbers in a spreadsheet, rather than on the lived realities of millions of disabled people.
“Disability benefits are vital to the day-to-day running of the UK economy.
“Weakening them further will harm not just disabled people but our society and economy as a whole.”
Navin Kikabhai, chair of the Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE), said the timing of the reshuffle was unfortunate, with the schools white paper – and its SEND reforms – imminent.
He said: “This reshuffle will likely result in further delays and add to the existing anxieties experienced by disabled young people and children, their families, and the disabled people’s movement more broadly.
“These issues are also deeply connected to wider problems of welfare cuts, scapegoating, and systemic attacks on disabled people.”
He added: “We hope that the new minister, Georgia Gould, will bring their understanding of the inequalities experienced by children and young people to address the entrenched disablism within the system.
“Our work through the Coalition for an Inclusive Education Act* highlights the creation of a truly inclusive education system, which is long overdue.”
Disabled campaigners have also been waiting for months, if not years, for successive governments to act on accessible housing, with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) telling Disability News Service in late July that it would “set out our policies on accessible new build housing shortly”.
But Rayner’s resignation, combined with the resignation last month of Rushanara Ali – who was the department’s lead disability minister – raises questions over whether that will also be delayed.
Linda Burnip, co-founder of Disabled People Against Cuts, said she could not see any way that the reshuffle “won’t delay announcements on accessible housing and SEND”, despite Labour forcing through the election of a deputy leader to replace Rayner “at a rather unseemly speed”.
At the Department for Transport, Heidi Alexander remains transport secretary, Simon Lightwood will still be the local transport minister with responsibility for transport accessibility, and Lord [Peter] Hendy remains as rail minister.
Meanwhile, Alison McGovern has been moved to MHCLG from her role as DWP’s employment minister, and is likely to be replaced by Dame Diana Johnson, who has joined DWP, although her role has yet to be confirmed.
And rather than splitting DWP into separate departments for employment and social security – as many disabled activists would like – it has become even bigger, with the addition of responsibility for skills.
This sees the role of former home secretary Jacqui Smith – now Baroness Smith – as minister for skills move from DfE to DWP.
At the Department of Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting remains as health and social care secretary, and Stephen Kinnock is still the care minister.
The decision to keep Kinnock in his role was not unexpected in the week that crossbench peer Baroness [Louise] Casey chaired a long-awaited cross-party meeting to discuss the work of her Independent Commission on Adult Social Care.
The meeting, held in the Cabinet Office on Monday, was attended by senior representatives from the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Green and Reform UK parties, including Streeting and Tory shadow health and social care secretary Stuart Andrew.
Baroness Casey, who chairs the commission, updated the party representatives on its work and asked them each to “share their views on their priorities for reform”.
The commission has so far met with more than 180 people, including those using care and support and representatives of “national organisations and delivery or provider organisations”.
In the next few months, the commission will invite the public, disabled people who use care and support services, and organisations, to submit evidence and share their stories and ideas for improving the adult social care system.
*The coalition is a collective of disabled people’s organisations and allies with an interest in inclusive education and the implementation of an Inclusive Education Act, with members including ALLFIE, Inclusion London and Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People
11 September 2025
Farage finally confirms: A Reform UK government would slash spending on disability benefits
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has finally confirmed that his party would cut support for many claimants of disability benefits if it won power at the next general election, with the cuts focusing on those he claims do not “genuinely deserve help”.
Farage’s comments to his party’s annual conference in Birmingham saw him follow other politicians who have tried to scapegoat disabled people for the country’s economic problems.
He later told ITV News that there were “too many young people being put on disability benefits” and there was a need for “significant welfare cuts”.
His comments show that a Reform government – his party currently has a significant lead in the polls – would slash spending on disability benefits.
He also drew ridicule from many disabled people this week for his ignorance of both the social security system and local authority support for disabled people.
In his comments to the conference, Farage mirrored notorious comments by Tory chancellor George Osborne at the 2012 Conservative conference, in which he had talked about the unfairness of a “shift-worker” leaving for work early in the morning who looks up and sees “the closed blinds of their next door neighbour sleeping off a life on benefits”.
Farage echoed these comments by telling Reform members: “And we will, over the course of the next months, outline some serious cuts to the welfare budget in this country.
“It is not fair, it is not fair, on people that get up with their alarm every morning, go to work and pay their taxes, for those that choose the different lifestyle to earn more money than they do.
“It is morally wrong, it is outrageous, and we will be the party that backs working people.”
Farage later made clear that these comments were aimed at disabled people, when telling ITV’s Robert Peston of the need for “significant welfare cuts”.
Asked by Peston who would lose out through these cuts, Farage again mirrored years of political rhetoric that has suggested that disabled claimants unable to work lack dignity and do not contribute to society, saying: “There are too many young people being put on disability benefits, being literally cast out of the system, classed as victims, left there.
“It isn’t good for the economy, it isn’t good for them as human beings.”
He also announced the appointment of Lee Anderson – a Reform MP and GB News presenter who worked for many years in Citizens Advice Bureaux before he entered politics, and once declared it was possible to make meals for 30p a day – as Reform’s “welfare” spokesperson.
But Farage added, again mirroring years of disablist rhetoric: “He knows that there are those that genuinely deserve help but there are many frankly that don’t.”
And he repeated a misinformed claim he made in April about links between a non-existent national “disability register” and the disability benefits system.
He told Peston: “The current system is that you go to your GP, your own GP’s almost pressurised to put you on the disability register. All of that has to change.”
The House of Commons library has made it clear in a briefing for MPs that there is no such thing as a national disability register and that eligibility for disability benefits “does not depend on a person being on a register of disabled people”, although some local authorities run their own voluntary registers to help with social care provision.
Under the Care Act, all councils must also keep a register of sight-impaired and severely sight-impaired adults, but again this is not connected with the benefits system.
In his conference speech, Farage also attacked people seeking asylum, Net Zero policies, the Civil Service, and wealth taxes, while talking frequently about himself while offering almost no new policies, and applauding those putting “the cross of St George and the Union Jack” in public spaces.
Reform had not responded by noon today (Thursday) to a request to explain what evidence Farage relied on when he said too many disabled people were receiving benefits; whether he was aware that social security spending as a proportion of GDP was stable; whether a Reform government would slash spending on disability benefits, and by how much; and whether his comments suggested he had not consulted disabled people on his policies.
There was significant concern at Farage’s comments across the disability movement this week.
Merry Cross, a member of the national steering group of Disabled People Against Cuts, said: “Anyone reading about Nigel Farage’s so-called policies should understand that this man and his party are funded by the same sort of people who put Trump into power in the US.
“Indeed, probably many are the very same people and certainly they are only interested in one thing – making more money for themselves.
“Underlying all of Farage’s attacks is the theme of destroying public services in order to privatise them and put them in the hands of the super wealthy, many of them American.
“Disabled people are already bearing the brunt of the privatisation of care services and the NHS as well as cuts to welfare benefits. This has to stop.”
Kieran Lewis, rights and migration policy manager at National Survivor User Network (NSUN), said: “Farage’s comments on welfare are dangerous and intentionally misleading.
“Disability is not a ‘lifestyle’ choice, and our value does not depend on whether/how we can work.
“Disabled people face barriers to participation in society – just as those in the immigration system do – and it is the job of politicians to help us navigate them.
“What is truly ‘outrageous’ is Reform UK’s willingness to throw disabled people under the bus for political points, claiming to be for ‘the people’ while planning to decimate and privatise our public services.”
Kamran Mallick, chief executive of Disability Rights UK, said: “Disabled people across the country will rightly be concerned to hear yet another political figure talk about cutting the welfare budget.
“It shows again a complete lack of understanding of how the social security system works.
“We know from bitter experience what that means in practice: more poverty, more exclusion, and more people pushed into crisis.
“The suggestion that receiving social security is a ‘lifestyle choice’ is simply wrong.
“Benefits are not handouts — they are lifelines. Disabled people need this support to eat, heat their homes, and take part in society.
“Disabled people are calling out for real change: for a system that recognises our rights, supports our independence, and tackles the barriers that lock us out of work and opportunity.”
Last year’s Reform UK general election manifesto was short on detail but suggested that a Reform government would launch a new attempt to push disabled people into employment, suggesting that it would save £15 billion a year by forcing “1 million plus back to work”.
Although it did not explicitly say it would target disabled people, the manifesto said it would “ensure those who can work do work” and added: “Employment is critical to improving mental health.”
It also said that “all job seekers and those fit to work” would have to find employment within four months or accept a job after two offers. Otherwise, it said, “benefits are withdrawn”.
11 September 2025
‘Dismay’ at ‘discriminatory’ actions of DWP ministers, in third letter from UN experts to UK in just two months
UN human rights experts have told the UK government they are “dismayed” at the actions of its ministers and what appear to be “discriminatory and unjustified” reforms to disability benefits.
It is the third letter from UN human rights experts in just two months to raise serious concerns about Labour’s attacks on disabled people’s rights.
The UN’s committee on the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD) is already examining concerns about the government’s new universal credit cuts act and its mental health legislation and potential breaches of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
This followed letters the UN wrote to the UK government expressing concerns about the two pieces of legislation, following evidence submitted by grassroots disabled people’s organisations.
But this week, the special rapporteurs on the rights of persons with disabilities and on extreme poverty and human rights have added their concerns, writing a joint letter to the government that adds even fiercer criticism of measures to cut disability benefits.
In the letter, sent just days before the sacking of work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall and her replacement by Pat McFadden (see separate story), Heba Hagrass and Olivier De Schutter say they are “deeply concerned” at measures in the new Universal Credit Act which signal “further retrogression in the availability and accessibility of social security for those at heightened risk of poverty”.
They say in the letter: “On its face, the new two-tier system for the UC health element whereby new claimants will receive a significantly lower amount of the same benefit solely because of the date of their application appears discriminatory and unjustified.”
And they criticise the introduction of the government’s “problematic” severe conditions category, which is “not aligned with the concept of disability under the [UNCRPD]” and “penalizes people who are at particular risk of poverty while experiencing significant barriers to employment”.
They also say they are “gravely concerned” and “dismayed” that politicians and “senior governmental officials” have used language that “stigmatizes benefits claimants and suggests that claimants are abusing and cheating the system” when official statistics show “near nonexistent overpayments” due to fraud.
And they point to the “lack of meaningful consultations” on the act, and the previous cuts to personal independence payment which were part of the legislation before ministers were forced to back down in the face of backbench opposition.
They say in their letter that they fear the cuts “may have put fiscal considerations” ahead of the government’s international human rights duties and could have a “disproportionate impact” on disabled people’s rights, particularly the right to a decent standard of living and the right to be “closely consulted and involved in policymaking”.
As well as UNCRPD, they also point to the UK’s duties under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
And they point out that both CRPD and the UN’s committee on economic, social and cultural rights have already warned that these rights have been eroded by previous governments over the last decade.
They also say that the “rationale” for the cuts seems to be based on looking at rising numbers of claimants, rather than carrying out a “comprehensive analysis and response to the causes behind the increased prevalence of disability and long-term health conditions” and the challenges disabled people face.
Ministers have now been asked to explain their decisions – and further reforms to disability benefits and employment expected in a white paper this autumn – and how they comply with UNCRPD and ICESCR, and to say what steps they are taking to guarantee disabled people’s rights.
The government said it would respond to the letter from the two rapporteurs in due course, and that it was committed to implementing UNCRPD and helping disabled people fulfil their potential.
A government spokesperson said: “We’re changing the welfare system so sick or disabled people have the opportunities to move into good, secure work and out of poverty as part of our Plan for Change.
“Our reforms will rebalance the rates of universal credit to reduce the perverse incentives that trap people out of work, while giving people the genuine support they need through our £3.8 billion employment support package.
“The views of disabled people remain at the heart of our decision making, including through the consultation earlier this year and the Timms Review, which will be co-produced with disabled people and their organisations.”
Sir Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and disability, who is leading the review, said this week, in response to a written parliamentary question: “I have been engaging over the summer to consider the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.
“I will share more details on this and how disabled people and other stakeholders will be involved in the review as plans progress.”
11 September 2025
Racist responses to disability hate crime campaign signal ‘deeply worrying’ trend
Campaigners calling for government action on disability hate crime were horrified when their posts on social media led to a string of racist and disablist responses, some of them from disabled people.
The responses to the Inclusion London campaign posts appear to be part of a growing trend of racism inspired – activists warned this week – by the rise of the right-wing Reform UK, and public statements by politicians and coverage of far-right protests in mainstream media.
Disabled activists called this week for the disability movement to speak out on such hostility but also to challenge disabled people who spread racist, transphobic and even disablist rhetoric.
Inclusion London’s adverts in support of its Justice for Disabled Victims of Hate Crime campaign were first posted early last month on Facebook and Instagram, with the campaign running until 18 October.
The campaign aims for “legal, strategic and policy reform so no disabled person is left to suffer in silence and alone”.
But Inclusion London soon had to start deleting racist and disablist comments on the posts, and blocking social media accounts, particularly in response to those that featured disabled people of colour.
At the same time, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) was receiving similar hate-filled responses to a post on its Twitter/X account, following a visit by two disabled activists to an anti-racist demonstration outside the Epping hotel that has been subjected to far-right protests.
Just like Inclusion London, DPAC was forced to delete racist and disablist responses to its post.
It was the first time in 15 years that DPAC’s Paula Peters had been forced to turn off comments on a Twitter/X post for the grassroots group, because of the “abhorrent” language.
Louise Holden, senior policy officer on disabled people and crime for Inclusion London, said the number of racist and disablist online comments its social media campaign had attracted was “deeply worrying”.
They suggested that politicians and media organisations had played a part in creating an environment where such comments were seen as acceptable.
And they said that the disability movement should do more to call out those disabled people who made racist, homophobic, transphobic and even disablist comments on social media.
Holden said: “The racist and disablist online comments about disabled people of colour, written by disabled white people, make clear that their ongoing hostile environment tactics are working.
“We are turning on each other. It’s sad and concerning.
“Politicians and the media get away with talking about minority groups in the most appalling manner, mostly unchecked and without censor.
“We want to focus on getting justice for all disabled people and fighting together against the government, not each other.
“We are all affected by this continuing hostile environment, and so we are calling for strength in unity.
“We need allies across all marginalised and oppressed groups in the UK.”
They added: “We are not against free speech, we are against crimes that cause harm and abuse.
“The UK legal system needs urgent reform.”
Peters, a member of DPAC’s national steering group, said: “People think it’s acceptable to say whatever they want to whoever they want without repercussions.
“It’s definitely getting worse.”
She blamed the Labour government for appearing to support the campaign to paint and place England’s national flag in public spaces, which she said had “emboldened people who are racist”.
But she said the root cause of the hatred was the “explosion” of coverage of Farage since Brexit and the election of a handful of Reform MPs at last year’s general election.
She said it was vital to stop pretending that all disabled people were not racist.
She said: “There are disabled people who are racist, disablist, Islamophobic, homophobic, transphobic, but especially racist.”
Peters pointed to polling from March this year which found that 29 per cent of disabled people intended to vote for Reform.
And she said there had been a huge increase in far-right activity in her London suburb – with countless flags and racist graffiti – since a local far-right demonstration outside a hotel housing people seeing asylum, which had left her scared to leave her home.
She said: “We need to have a lot of difficult conversations with friends, fellow activists who are supporting Reform, we need a huge campaign to challenge the populist politics of Reform.
“In communities, disabled people need to come together – because we know what it’s like to be oppressed and marginalised – and show solidarity to other minority groups who have been oppressed and marginalised, to come together to literally drive back the racism.
“It’s frightening to see it.”
As part of its hate crime campaign, Inclusion London has written an open letter to the prime minister, calling for hate crime sentencing reform, action to improve detection rates and prosecutions for disability hate crime, a focus on intersectional hate crime, and to co-produce work on anti-social behaviour with disabled people.
It calls on the prime minister to introduce a “national hate crime strategy, providing resources for prevention, research, training, independent advocacy, policies and practices coproduced with people with lived experience”.
And it calls for “urgent steps to improve justice for Disabled victims of hate crime, not just in legislation, but in policy and practice too”.
11 September 2025
DWP refuses to release names of organisations advising ministers on disability benefits and employment
The disability minister is facing further questions over his commitment to transparency after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) refused to release the names of his new advisers on work and disability benefits, or even the organisations they represent.
Five “collaboration committees” were set up earlier this year by Sir Stephen Timms to advise him and his department, particularly on issues around disability employment.
But DWP has now told Disability News Service (DNS) that it will not release the names of any of the 50 or so members of the committees, or even any of the organisations they represent.
Sir Stephen, the minister for social security and disability – who has previously pledged more DWP transparency under the new Labour government – said in July that the committees’ recommendations would be “very influential in the final decisions that get made”.
But despite that, he is refusing to release the names of the disability charities, support providers and employers that are represented on the committees.
DWP previously said that committee members include “people with lived experience of our services, disabled people’s organisations, disability charities, healthcare professionals, academics, support providers and employer representatives”.
In response to a freedom of information request from DNS, DWP said it could not release the names of the committee members because it was “personal data” and “satisfies one of the conditions listed” in section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.
It said there was “no strong legitimate interest that would override the prejudice to the rights and freedoms of the data subject”.
And it said it had made “confidentiality commitments to the individuals and organisations involved in these panels, to allow them to choose if they would like to publicly confirm if they are taking part in this process”.
The transparency failure follows last week’s revelation that DWP had imposed “gagging orders” on members of its new Independent Disability Advisory Panel.
One of the five collaboration committees is examining reform of the Access to Work scheme, while others will look at youth unemployment, the government’s Pathways to Work green paper, Labour’s new Right to Try Guarantee, and whether to change the age that young disabled people move from disability living allowance to personal independence payment from 16 to 18.
DWP said in April that the five committees would “provide discussion, challenge, and make recommendations” and “further develop our reforms”.
Sir Stephen told the BBC’s Access All podcast in July that there would be about 10 people on each of five collaboration committees, each of which would meet monthly until their final meetings next month.
He added: “And at the end of that time we’re looking forward to having their recommendations and ideas for what we should do.
“Those will be presented to ministers and will be very influential in the final decisions that get made.”
A white paper is expected to follow in October or November.
11 September 2025
Fresh fears over ticket office closures, after concerns raised in Newcastle and London
Disabled activists and allies who fought off rail industry plans to shut hundreds of ticket offices across England two years ago say they fear train companies are quietly finding new ways to push through closures.
They spoke out this week after criticism of LNER’s move to replace the five-window ticket office at Newcastle’s main station with a small ticket kiosk in the middle of the main concourse that has just two windows for customers, supposedly backed up by roving “floor walkers” with “mobile devices”.
But the RMT rail union has also revealed this week how an official document shows an option to close nearly every ticket office on Transport for London’s west-to-east Elizabeth Line rail system by 2027.
The Elizabeth Line only opened three years ago but extracts from the document – seen by Disability News Service – suggest that Transport for London (TfL) could close the ticket offices of all “Operator Leased Stations” by 20 August 2027, which would mean those at all but the three major stations of Reading, Paddington and Liverpool Street.
TfL said the document was a long-term contract with the private sector GTS joint venture that runs the Elizabeth Line.
It said the extract details an option in the contract that examines how operation of the Elizabeth Line might change with future developments in technology, including in customer retail.
A TfL spokesperson said: “There are no plans to close ticket offices.”
But Emily Sullivan, co-founder of the Association of British Commuters (ABC), said: “Everything is called an ‘option’ and not a ‘plan’ until the time they implement it.
“What we know for sure is that, due to the level of public outrage on this issue, as much as possible will be done by stealth.
“Rail workers are, as usual, our best early warning system on these issues.”
Only six months ago, ABC warned that cuts to ticket office opening hours by three rail providers across England and Scotland – ScotRail, Southeastern and Great Western Railway – were just a forerunner of further reductions to come across the country, which would have a significant impact on disabled passengers.
In Newcastle, the North East Public Transport Users’ Group has already raised concerns about the impact of the closure of the ticket office on disabled people, because of lengthened queues and problems faced by those with hearing impairments.
ABC has secured an admission from LNER that the equality impact assessment (EIA) of the Newcastle plans was drawn up two years ago, with the first version completed just as a public consultation into the proposed closure of most ticket offices in England was ending.
Those national plans – later abandoned by the Conservative government – would have had a “disastrous” impact on disabled rail passengers, campaigners warned at the time.
But ABC and the disabled people’s organisation Transport for All now fear that the Newcastle closure and other similar plans are part of an industry-wide move to find loopholes that will allow train companies across the country to close many of those ticket offices.
Sullivan said LNER’s kiosk was “the latest in a line of stealth methods being used to destaff ticket offices”, despite nearly 750,000 public objections to the proposed closures – 99 per cent of those who took part – in the public consultation in 2023.
LNER told ABC in response to a freedom of information request that the move in Newcastle to a ticket kiosk was just a “relocation” and so it did not need to consult the Department for Transport under Ticketing and Settlement Agreement regulations or take account of the impact of the change on accessibility and queuing times.
Sullivan said: “If LNER gets away with closing its ticket offices, it will give the green light to the rest of the railway to start exploiting these methods.
“We could then be seeing a co-ordinated attempt to destaff stations and ticket offices across the network.”
Natalie Ashton, senior engagement officer north at the disabled people’s organisation Transport for All, said: “Everyone needs to travel – for work, study or leisure – and ticket offices are crucial to that.
“They supply tickets for millions of journeys each year, and provide disabled people with information, access and assistance so that we can travel safely.
“The closure of the ticket office in Newcastle is unacceptable; it will prevent disabled people from travelling.
“Members tell us there are similar closures and understaffing from Yeovil to Scotland. This must stop.
“We need a national commitment to keeping tickets offices open and staffed, so that disabled people have the freedom to make the journeys we want to.”
RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “After the biggest wave of public opposition we’ve seen in years to ticket office closures, it’s beyond belief that similar plans are being put back on the table for the Elizabeth Line.
“Against the backdrop of industrial relations chaos across TfL, this reckless move is like pouring petrol on the fire.
“These offices are vital for thousands of passengers, especially disabled and vulnerable people who depend on face-to-face services.”
LNER declined to confirm that the Newcastle EIA dated from the time of the 2023 ticket office consultations, and that it has not been updated since then.
It also declined to explain what measures it had introduced to deal with the acoustics impact of the move to a kiosk, or to confirm that the move allowed it to avoid the usual regulatory processes when ticket offices are closed, and that the only approval for the plans came from Network Rail in March 2020.
But an LNER spokesperson said in a statement: “The ticket office has been relocated to the centre of Newcastle station to make it easier to find and available to as many customers as possible.”
She said the LNER customer accessibility forum had been consulted before the move and that its feedback “was taken into consideration”.
She said: “LNER colleagues are also now situated throughout the station, making assistance more accessible on the main concourse.
“Colleagues are available to help with customer queries, provide journey advice, or sell tickets using handheld devices.
“In addition, customers can purchase tickets from vending machines, with support available if required.
“This agile, more flexible approach enables colleagues to attend to customers more efficiently, reducing the need to queue and allowing them to provide support to those waiting in the Passenger Assist lounge.”
11 September 2025
Tories say benefits bill is spiralling, but again refuse to comment on official stats that show it’s really not
The Conservative party has again refused to explain why it is warning of a “spiralling” benefits bill when spending on social security is stable… and has been for years.
For the second time in two months, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called for cuts, this time warning of the need to find ways of “really bringing down the welfare bill” and claiming the “current system is out of control”.
In a speech to the Institute of Chartered Accountants, she called for the Labour government to meet her team to “agree a way to bring welfare spending down”.
The party has now been asked twice by Disability News Service (DNS) why it keeps arguing that social security spending is “spiralling out of control” when figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) show it is set to be lower this year – as a proportion of GDP* – than it was in 2015-16 and 2010-11, and is even set to fall slightly in 2027-28**.
And social security and disability minister Sir Stephen Timms admitted to the Commons work and pensions committee earlier this year that working-age social security spending as a percentage of GDP “isn’t much more now than it was before the 2008-2010 recession”.
Despite these figures, the Conservative party insists that the level of spending is not “sustainable”, with Badenoch saying she wants to help the prime minister “in the national interest” with “really bringing down the welfare bill”.
The party continues to insist that spending is “spiralling” even though it quoted figures in its press release about the Badenoch speech that are taken from the same OBR report that shows social security spending is stable.
In response to the press release, DNS asked the party to confirm if Badenoch accepted that OBR figures showed social security spending was set to be lower this year – as a proportion of GDP – than it was in 2015-16 and 2010-11, and was set to fall slightly in 2027-28.
The party had not responded by noon today (Thursday).
When DNS put a similar question to the party in July – after Badenoch warned of a “ticking time bomb” caused by increased benefits spending – a Conservative party press officer said: “I don’t think we are going to provide further comment.”
*Gross domestic product, the size of the country’s economy in a particular year
**See chapter five of OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook – October 2024, chart 5.2
11 September 2025
Disabled workers win TUC support for fight against Labour’s cuts to benefits
Disabled union activists have appealed successfully to the TUC to support their fight against the government’s continuing attacks on disability benefits.
Two motions opposing Labour’s cuts and calling for campaign support from the TUC and its general council were passed unanimously at the annual TUC Congress in Brighton yesterday (Wednesday).
The first motion came from the TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference, and the second from the TUC Trades Union Councils Conference.
Alan Hackett, from the NASUWT teachers’ union, told TUC Congress: “The current government have made it very clear that they’re not going to just continue the war on disabled people, but they’re going to escalate it.
“Instead of increasing pressure on employers to make workplaces more accessible, the government has put the responsibility squarely at the door of disabled people.”
He added: “With united pressure, the trade unions, along with trades councils and disabled people’s organisations, managed to secure a significant stay of execution to the PIP changes.
“However, unless we maintain that pressure, that is all it will be.”
Natasha Hirst, from the National Union of Journalists, also appealed for support from the union movement.
She said the government was stripping away disabled people’s social security safeguards “without addressing the very real barriers that exclude us from employment and education and transport, health, housing, leisure, and everything else in our day-to-day lives”.
She said her union had supported members to challenge politicians who have undermined disabled people’s “humanity” and presented them as a “burden” while calling for cuts to disability benefits, and had called out regulators for not taking action on discriminatory reporting and broadcasting.
She said these attacks by politicians and the media had been “relentless and frightening”, while she warned of “more cuts to come”.
She told the conference: “Every disabled activist that I know is completely burned out right now.
“We have never needed your solidarity more, but more importantly, we need your action, including on behalf of disabled people who can’t work.
“It is a political choice to attack our rights; disabled people, and our organisations, need the full weight of the trade union movement behind us.”
Amy Bishop, from the Prospect union, said campaigning had been effective in securing government concessions on the bill to cut universal credit and personal independence payment (PIP).
But she said there were still “significant cuts” in the Universal Credit Act and although plans to cut PIP were removed from the legislation, the scope of a PIP review being led by Sir Stephen Timms was “wide ranging, with a target of making PIP sustainable to support generations to come, and I think we can all agree that this pretty much always means cuts”.
She said: “We cannot allow the government to decimate the support system for disabled people in the UK.”
Angela Hamilton, from UNISON, proposing the first motion, said the government may have made concessions on its initial PIP and universal credit cuts bill, but she told delegates: “Let’s be clear: we might have won the battle, but we haven’t won the war.”
She pointed to the appointment by the prime minister of the new work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden in this week’s government reshuffle (see separate story).
She said: “Don’t be fooled by Pat’s gently spoken, softly-softly approach. He’s been brought in to force through welfare reform and he is one tough cookie.”
Kate Bell, TUC’s assistant general secretary, said the TUC supported both motions and would consult with its general council on “the most effective and most accessible form of action to raise our voice against any further planned cuts and ensure that the voices of disabled workers are heard”.
Meanwhile, the Commons work and pensions committee has called on the government to reform the conditionality and sanctions regime facing benefit claimants.
In a new report on the government’s planned jobcentre reforms, it calls for the Department for Work and Pensions to “consider safeguarding and ‘trauma-informed approaches’ tailored to the personal circumstances of claimants” when making decisions about benefit sanctions.
Debbie Abrahams, chair of the committee, said there should be “significant personalisation of both the support claimants receive and the conditions of their job search.
“For example, someone with a health condition should not be sanctioned for not taking a job that they cannot do because of that condition just because of a one-size-fits-all approach.
“A more personalised, flexible approach will improve employment outcomes, give people more control over their lives and help to restore their dignity.”
11 September 2025
Labour’s housing policies will have ‘quite negligible’ impact on accessibility, MPs are told
Housing policies announced by the Labour government in its first year in power will have a “quite negligible” impact on improving accessibility and addressing disabled people’s housing needs, a disability rights campaigner has told MPs.
Mikey Erhardt, policy lead for Disability Rights UK (DR UK), told the Commons housing, communities and local government committee on Tuesday that there was “not a lot at the moment, I’d say, for us to be excited or hopeful for” when it came to government action on disabled people’s housing needs.
He said disabled people were still waiting for the new government to say whether it would introduce stricter minimum accessibility standards for new-build homes in England, three years after a pledge by the last Conservative government – which was never fulfilled – to take action to address the critical shortage of accessible homes.
And he pointed out that Rushanara Ali’s resignation last month meant the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had lost its lead disability minister.
He said this meant there was now a “position of flux” when disabled people already had “low expectations”.
He also highlighted last year’s criticism when the new Labour government failed to mention the accessible housing crisis in its consultation on reforms to the National Policy Planning Framework in England, and how it was then criticised for a “slapdash and chaotic” approach to a request for the consultation document to be made available in accessible formats.
He said there was “not a lot at the moment, I’d say, for us to be excited or hopeful for, but there is an understanding that this is a serious issue and an understanding that this isn’t just something that affects your house, it affects your wider life and your health”.
But he told the committee that affordability could be the biggest issue for disabled people.
He said: “When we’re thinking about what do disabled people want and need out of housing in the UK at the moment, the thing that I get told most is, ‘I’d like to be able to afford it.’
“Disabled people, people on lower incomes, cannot afford where rent has been for years, let alone where rent is predicted to go.”
He warned that the government’s house-building plans were not likely to make housing more affordable for disabled people.
He told the committee: “We just will have lots more homes that people can’t afford to live in.”
He said later in the session: “We see people every day who are not even thinking about the fact that their home is inaccessible.
“They’re thinking they can’t afford to live in it and they’re going to be made street homeless tomorrow.”
But he also pointed to the government’s renters’ rights bill, which is going through its final parliamentary stages this week, and which he said should give more “power” and protection to disabled renters who need adaptations made to their home through a disabled facilities grant.
Erhardt also pointed to a report published earlier this year by Medact, a charity which enables health professionals to speak out on the causes of poor health, and the Nags Head Tenants Association, with support from DR UK.
The report looked at tenants’ experiences of unhealthy homes on the East London estate, run by Peabody housing association.
It found that 86 per cent of households had reported new symptoms or injuries since moving into their properties.
But when they complained about problems of mould, they were told it was their fault or the issue was not serious enough.
Tenants in one property had just let the mould take over a whole room so they could force Peabody to act.
A surveyor later found that in most of the homes on the estate the ventilators “had all been painted shut years ago”.
11 September 2025
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week
The Conservatives have called for a ban on new floating bus stops to protect those who are disabled and blind. Shadow transport minister Jerome Mayhew accused the government of being “not prepared to take effective action”. Transport minister Simon Lightwood said statutory guidance on the design of floating bus stops would be published to improve their accessibility: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/government-tories-transport-minister-bill-marsha-de-cordova-b2824025.html
Baroness [Tanni] Grey-Thompson, the crossbench peer and retired Paralympic athlete, has spoken of receiving “abusive” emails that accused her of being “responsible for people dying in pain” because of her opposition to the assisted dying bill. Baroness Grey-Thompson, a multiple gold medallist and disability rights campaigner, is expected to speak in tomorrow’s second reading of the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill, which would allow terminally-ill people in England and Wales to request medical help to end their lives. She told the Press Association that the debate had unleashed a flood of both support and hostility: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/sep/08/tanni-grey-thompson-received-abusive-emails-over-opposition-to-assisted-dying-bill
A disabled doctor, who believes the NHS sees it as “too difficult or inconvenient” to support her, says she has considered leaving the profession. Dr Alice Gatenby said senior colleagues told her she was “not a real doctor” because her epilepsy meant she does not work night shifts. A survey by the British Medical Association of more than 800 disabled and neurodivergent doctors and medical students found more than half felt ableism was a bigger issue in the medical profession than in wider society: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz69xljgpldo
11 September 2025
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
